THE INVENTORS OF THE TELECiKAPH AM) TELEPHONE.* 



P>y J'i(»r. Thomas (tRAY, l\ \l. S. E. 



Tlu' word tel<'.ui;i)tli was introduced about oiio hundred years ago as 

 a name for a nnsnis ()(■con^cyin<;■ intelli^yence to a distauce by means of 

 signs. Tlie signs were])ro(bi(*ed in a varic^ty of ways, as, for example, 

 by the sliapes oi" positions of bodies j)hH'ed on liigh ])ok'S, or by letters 

 or wurds of sutticient magnitude sindlarly ex)»os<'d. The meaning of 

 the word telegraph, interpi-eted by its original use, wouhl thus be to 

 write or make signs at ou^ place in such a way that they eould be read 

 or interpreted at a distant place. It ai>pears, tlierefore, that so long 

 as we coiitine our attention to early n)«4hods of telegrajjliing, tiie signs 

 or signals were made at the sending station and read from the receiv- 

 ing station. Modern usage gi\'es a slightly different meaning to the 

 word, namely, a means of i)roducing visible, audible or written signs 

 at a distaiu'e. That is to say, the signs are to l)e produced at the re- 

 ceiving station. This was first accomjjlished on an extensive scale an<l 

 at great distances by means of electricity. Methods of transmitting 

 sounds, or even sp(!ech, to moderate distances by means of tubes and 

 by means of what we now call string or mechanical teh^))hones have 

 however been known for sevei'al centuries. 



^lethods of conveying intelligence to a distance have been known 

 and used from very early times. Eires seem to have been the earliest 

 means employed for giving signals, and we find such signs referred to 

 in the writings of tlie Pro])het .Teremiah, of I'jschylus, of Polybius, and 

 others. Schottus, in his Trchniea Curiosa, pro])Oses the application of 

 the telescope to \iew posts er(^cted on an eminence at a distant staticm, 

 and on which signs were to be placed. The Marcptis of Woicester, in 

 his Cenfxry o/Jv/rew/y'oM.v, enumerates aday and anight telegra|)h; and 

 Kessler, in his Concealed Arts, proposes to cut out letters in boards and 

 nndve tliem visible at a distance by placing them over the end of a cask 

 in which a light is burning; the letters or other characters being ex- 

 ])osed in proper succession any message can be transmitted. 



One of the earliest telegrai)hs of which we have now a direct repre- 

 sentative was the Hag signals introduced about the middle of the sev- 



■ All :i»l(hoss on tlic occasion of tlic ("ciitcnniiil celcbiiilion of the organization of 

 tlic I'nitod States l'at(Mit < KTkc. (Icli\(>ic(l in Waslimijtou. ( I'rocccdiiifis and Addrfxses, 

 1891, pp. 17r>-198.) 



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